Pile fabric and method of making same



Jan. 18, 1955 R. R. MATTHEWS 2,699,593

PILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 7, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheetl a d 5 Russell R. Matthews 31g: 4 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Jan. 18, 1955 R. R. MATTHEWS FILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 7, 1951 1155211 R- Mafihewfi Jan. 18, 1955 R.R. MATTHEWS 2,699,593

PILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Dec. 7, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet3 United States Patent PILE FABRIC AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Russell R.Matthews, Cornwall, N. Y., assignor to The Firth Carpet Company, Inc.,New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 7, 1951,Serial No. 260,502

16 Claims. (CI. 28-72) This invention relates to a pile fabric. It isapplicable to pile fabrics which are of woven or non-woven construction;and if woven it may be produced as Wilton, velvet, Axminster, chenille,terry, frieze or other types either with all the pile cut or some of ituncut as surface appearance or utility may be dictated by the use forwhich the fabric may be intended, and if the pile is put onto thebacking by sewing or adhesive or other means the pile yarn may be set inposition and oriented by mechanical or electrostatic methods withoutdeparture from the present invention. The mechanical pile setting methodis exemplified by Underwood Patent No. 1,902,921 and the electrostaticmethod by Meston et al. Patent No. 2,152,077.

According to the invention a fiber or fibers of one character arecombined with a fiber or fibers of another character to form the pilefacing of the fabric. The substance of this facing may be continuous ornon-continuous filaments of different characters twisted into acomposite yarn, single or plied. In the one case, such a pile surfacemay be in the form of some tufts wholly of one kind of fiber orfilaments, while in another case the pile surface may have tufts of acombination of filaments or fibers of different characters inappropriate percentage ratios to achieve different effects as will behereinafter set forth.

In another form of the invention, filaments of one kind may be the coreof a tuft having a casing or covering of filaments of another kind.

More particularly stated, the invention is a pile surface materialwherein the pile is comprised of upright tufts of more than one kind, asfor instance, pile tufts of wool yarn, single or plied, and compositepile tufts, including a yarn of a synthetic fiber, such as athermoplastic vinyl resin, which lacks dimensional stability dependenton conditions of temperature, or is dependent on inherent ability toresume an original dimension after once being elongated by stretching.

The vinyl resin in the form of a continuous filament can be combinedwith a woolen thread. as well as spun into a yarn after blending of thefibers.

An example is a vinyl resin yarn commonly known as Vinyon, which willshrink at 65 degrees C., and at 75 degrees C. has a shrinkage of about12% without the tendency of the fibers to adhere to each other, or 1nwhich the fibers may be prestretched so that they may be prepared toshrink as much as 50%, with heat treatment. The tufts may be set intothe backing in a predetermined pattern, one area being comprised oftufts which will shrink to a lower level than the tufts that contain noVinyon or a lesser percentage of Vinyon, so that when the Vinyon shrinksthe predetermined pattern will be emphasized, to thus provide a carvedor an embossed effect throughout, even though the tufts when originallyset in place may have been of the same pile height or depth.

This invention does not rely upon an adhesive bonding of vinyl resin andwool fibers, because their forming into a yarn creates an engagementsuch that the vinyl resin in shrinking will pull down only a portion ofthe wool, leaving the rest exposed.

The essential thing is to provide a process whereby the effect of acarved or embossed pattern can be obtained in a pile fabric woven withpiles of equal height by the use of pattern delineating piles ofcomposite yarn that may be simply treated to produce an overall and 2differential shrinkage that leaves a coating layer on these piles. I

In the above manner, for instance, it 1s practical to produce in anAxminster or Wilton weave, a carpet or rug having an embossed or carvedeffect.

The drawings Figure 1 is a weftwise sectional view of an Axminster Yweave before the shrinking treatment.

Figure 2 is a similar weftwise cross section of the same weave as inFigure 1, after the vinyl. resin fibers have shrunk and delineated apattern simulating an embossed or carved effect.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing a vinyl resin gger which hasbeen stretched and entwined with a wool Figure 4 is a diagrammatic viewillustrating the effect obtained when the dimensional instability of thevinyl resin has been utilized to crimp the wool.

Figure 5 is a photolithograph plan view of two pieces of Axrninstercarpet woven in accordance with this invention, the piece on the leftshowing the uniform pile height before shrinking treatment, and theplace on the right side showing the carved effect obtained by theshrinking treatment.

Figure 6 is a photolithograph top perspective view of the two pieces ofcarpet of Figure 5 in the same relation showing the depth of the carvedeffect in the treated piece on the right and the relation of the carvedeffect to a dark pattern figure that is relatively unshrinkable.

Figure 7 is a greatly magnified somewhat diagrammatic side viewrepresentation of a single tuft of composite yarn from the left piece ofFigures 5 and 6 before shrinkage.

Figure 8 is a similar side view of the tuft of Figure 7 showing theeffect of the shrinkage treatment.

In Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing, which, as previously stated,represent a pile fabric of an Axminister weave, I

have shown the type of weave in which there are two double shots of weftto each row of tufts, this weave being but one of the many types ofweaves used in fabrics of pile type, with which the invention may bepracticed.

The tufts A and B are, of course, in this instance,'of the insertedtype, and are held in by the chain warp 1, usually of cotton, whichbinds the tufts A and B at their base with the jute filling weft 3, thestuffer 4 being intermediate as shown.

The tufts A may be formed of a relatively unshrinkable natural fiberyarn, such as wool, single or plied, while the tufts B may be formed ofa yarn, which is all Vinyon or of a composite yarn of Vinyon and naturalfibers such as wool. A pattern of tufts is arranged in the manner usualto Axminister carpet production, by the number and sequence of spools ofeach type of yarn to the row, and thus, as with a pattern of differentcolors, the types of tufts, either all wool, all Vinyon, or a compositeof Vinyon and wool, will occur in the preselected repeat of the pattern.

In this invention I have turned to advantage the lack of dimensionalstability characteristic of vinyl resin and which caused it to be termedthe plastic with an elastic memory. Once stretched vinyl resin has theability to recover its original or some other shorter length, dependenton the degree and, conditions of original elongation or stretching.

The vinyl resin, commonly known as Vinyon is a thermoplastic copolymerof vinyl chloride and vinyl aceta te having from 70% to by weight ofvinyl chloride, with the vinyl acetate comprising the remainder. It hasa critical temperature range of from 65 to degrees C.,

is permanently water resistant, is non-inflammable, has

good chemical resistance, and is not susceptible to bacteria and fungi.

' weaving or forming of the pile, insofar as the yarn containing theVinyon fibers are concerned, are held at a temperature lower than theultimate shrinkage temperature required to achieve the final patterningresult.

Following the finishing operation in weaving, the surface of the rug, orother pile fabric, is subjected to a heat operation, which contracts andthickens the Vmyon containing tufts B down to the required length, lowerthan the tufts A, and the preselected pattern is thereby brought out ordelineated in simulation of an embossed or carved effect. A similarembossed or carved effect is produced in Wilton or velvet weaves byhaving the face yarn forming the pile tuft over the wires, either withcut or uncut pile, in which some of the face yarn may contain Vinyonfibers, and other portions, natural or other fibers, which do not shrinkto the same degree as Vinyon when subjected to temperature or release ofpre-stretching. In this case also the pattern. is brought'out by thenatural or accelerated return of the Vinyon fibers to a shorter lengthfollowing weaving, even though all tufts had initially the same pileheight.

Chenille, in'which-a weft fabric is first woven,is given a pattern bythe selected useof Vinyon yarn in the weft fabric, where some of theyarns may be composite and contain Vinyon fibers and relatively lessshrinkable fibers, and other yarns may be of natural fibers, such aswool, so that when the weft fabric is cut and ironed up to veformtheVinyon will be shrunk to the required length. Thus when the'weft shotsare set in place, the fabric will have a pattern of shorter and longerp1le as in a carved effect, but without any cutting to produce thisresult.

It is within the scope of the invention that in forming the yarn Vinyonfibers may be entwined with fibers of some other substance, such aswool, in such manner that the shrinking of the Vinyon fibers will drawdown the height .of the wool or other pile fibers adjacent, so that atuft, for instance which is to be below the surface in the eventualproduct may be a combination of wool and Vinyon fibers, in such ratiothat the shortening effect operates on the wool fibers to pull themdown. This effect is indicated in Figures 3 and 4 where the contractionof the Vinyon fiber 6 gripping the rough or scaly. surface of the woolfiber causes a crimping effect pulling down the composite wool pilesegment.

.It is to be understood that the higher piles, such as tufts.A of Fig.2, can be of wool, of rayon, of true synthetics, of any natural fiber,or any blend of fibers having a non-shrinkage or nominal shrinkageproperty under heat treatment. The pile tufts B can be of any of thefiber compositions used for tufts A, provided that they are blended withfibers like Vinyon which have a high degree of dimensional instabilitywhen subjected to heat treatment. As a specific example of this, thepile tufts A may consist entirely of acetate rayon, and the pile tufts Bmay be a combination of acetate rayon and Vinyon.

The nature of 'my invention will be further disclosed with reference tothe specific embodiment illustrated by Figures 5, 6, 7 and 8. The carpetillustrated was made on a conventional Axminster loom. The unique resultof-producing a combination of high andlow pile yarn on this loom dependson the use of yarn of special shrinkage characteristics for the low pileor selected background, for setting off the pattern, and the shrinkingtreatment given the uniform height pile surface after removal from theloom,

The leaf pattern shown was woven of wool yarn with the vein portion ofcontrasting color as shown in all photolithographs. The background partof the pattern was woven of a composite yarn containing shrinkable andunshrinkable fibers. In this instance a natural fiber, wool of a muchsofter finer character than usual carpet Wool strengthened by a smallamount of fine nylon fiber, was spun with Vinyon into asingle yarn. TheVinyon fiber used for the blending was capable of shrinkingapproximately 50% in length when heat treated as hereinafter described.Such shrinkage was accompanied by a swelling or fattening of thecomposite tufts. Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the effect of this heattreatment on a tuft of composite yarn. These figures have beensimplified for greater clearness by following the scheme of Figures 1and 2 which ignores the low twist that characterizes the particularcomposite yarn. After the tuft of Figure 7 has been shrunk to thecondition shown by Figure 8, there is a reduction in overall tuftheight, a mat increase in the base portion of Vinyon and compressed woolfibers, and a distinct layer of wool fibers above the base portion.

In addition to steaming or ironing, heat may be ap- 'pliedin any othereffective manner that will not damage the fibers or their backing,radiant heat having also been found entirely satisfactory.

The heat treatment comprised applying dry steam from a source at poundsper square inch (gauge) to the pile surface of the carpet exposed to theatmosphere. The background tufts of composite yarn contractedimmediately to delineate the pattern. The steam temperature being abovedegrees C. exceeded the setting temperature of the Vinyon.

The observed changes in the composite yarn were remarkable. The woolfibers were only partially pulled down by the rapidly shrinking"Vinyon.A soft surface or plating of wool could be seen and felt on theuppermost surfaces of these now shrunken tufts. The yarn itself hadapproximately doubled in thickness as the contraction of the vinyl resinfibers compressed the yarn, thereby producing a gretaer concentration ofvinyl resin fibers at the base portion of the tuft. vinyl resin fibersin moving downward contracted the tuft to aproximately double itsoriginal thickness and with.- drew downwardly through the wool. Anenlarged, more dense covering surface was thus produced over theadjacent backing of the carpet, and the wool plating sur face was firmlysupported. The appearance and feel of the now high and low pile carpetwas very pleasing.

The color change produced by heat treatment is quite striking. Beforeheat treatment the cut ends of the pile in which Vinyon fibers areblended shows the natural white of the Vinyon fibers, but after heattreatment the Vinyon fibers pull downward, exposing only the dyed fibersof wool or other nominal shrinking material.

It has been demonstrated new and valuable design-effects can be obtainedon Axminster looms without carving and at very little increase in cost.The same inventive principles are applicable to Wilton looms operatedwith all wires of one height. Two or more heights of wire can also beused in the Wilton constructions. Two heights of wire would give fourpile heights.

In the foregoing I have described preferred embodiments of the inventionwhich I have practiced. However, it is to be understood that theinvention is subject to a number of different practical embodimentsfalling within the scope of the appended claims defining the inventionover the prior art.

This application is a continuation in part of my prior applicationSerial No. 68,220, filed December 30, 1948.

Having thus described my invention What I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of. the United States is:

l. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pilefabric-formed with piles of equal height, which comprises making some ofsaid piles of a composite yarn containing natural fibers andthermoplastic fibers of a vinyl resin having a large potential shrinkagewhen heated, said natural fibers not being subiect to substantialshrinkage when similarly heated, making the other of said piles offibers not subiect to substantial shrinkage when similarly heated, andheating said pile fabric to a temperature exceeding the settingtemperature of said vinyl resin fibers to differentially shrink and setthe vinyl resinfibers and leave a distinct layer of said natural fiberson the upper pile surface.

2. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricformed with piles of equal height, which comprises making some of saidpiles of a composite yarn containing natural fibers and thermoplasticfibers of a copolymer of vinylchloride and vinyl acetate having apotential shrinkage of the order of 5.0% when heated, said naturalfibers not being subject to appreciable shrinkage when similarly heated,making the other of said piles of fibers not subject to shrinkage whensimilarly heated, and heating said pile fabric to a temperatureexceeding the setting temperature of said copolymer fibers toditferentially shrink and set the copolymer fibers andleave adistinct'layer of said natural fibers on the upperpile surface. saidlayer being below the level of piles not subject to shrinkage.

3. .A process of producing carved or embossed effects in Axminster andWilton carpet, which comprises ,forming the carpet with tufts thereon ofthe same height, some of said tufts being formed of a blended compositeyarn comprising wool fibers and vinyl resin fibers having a largepotential when heated, and heatlng the tufts at a The heat treatedtemperature and for a time such as to shrink the vinyl resin fibers andthus produce tufts of reduced height having a plating of wool supportedby a base portion of said vinyl resin material and compressed wool,whereby to delineate the pattern.

4. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in Axminster andWilton carpet, which comprises forming the carpet with tufts thereon ofthe same height, some of said tufts being of wool fibers and fibers of acopolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate having a potentialshrinkage of the order of 50% formed into a single composite yarn anddefining a pattern, the other of said tufts being of wool yarn, andtreating the tufts with steam at a temperature exceeding 150 degrees C.to shrink and set the polymeric yarn and thus produce tufts of reducedheight having a plating of wool supported by a more dense base of saidpolymeric material and compressed wool, whereby to delineate thepattern.

5. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabrichaving certain tufts of equal height which comprises making some of saidtufts of a composite yarn containing a blend of fibers relativelyunshrinkable by heat and thermoplastic fibers having a large potentialshrinkage when heated, making the other of said tufts of fibers notsubject to shrinkage when similarly heated, and heating the tufts at atemperature and for a time such as to shrink said thermoplastic fibersto difierentially shrink the thermoplastic fibers and thus produce tuftsof reduced height having at their upper ends exposed projecting lengthsof said relatively unshrinkable fibers.

6. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricformed with piles of equal height which comprises making some of saidpiles of a composite yarn containing soft unshrinkable fibers entwinedwith thermoplastic fibers having a large potential shrinkage when heatedblended therewith, making the other of said piles of yarn relativelyless subject to shrinkage when similarly heated, and heating said pilefabric to a temperature exceeding the setting temperature of saidthermoplastic fibers to differentially shrink and set the thermoplasticfibers and leave a layer of said soft unshrinkable fibers on the upperpile surface.

7. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricformed with piles of equal height which comprises making some of saidpiles of composite yarn containing thermoplastic fibers of a vinyl resinhaving a large potential shrinkage when heated and fibers relativelyless subject to shrinkage when similarly heated, making other of saidpiles of fibers relatively less subject to shrinkage when heated, andheating said fabric to a temperature exceeding the setting temperatureof said vinyl resin fibers to reduce the height of said piles ofcomposite yarn by differentially shrinking said vinyl resin fibers andforming thereby an enlarged, more dense base portion of set vinyl resinmaterial and compressed fibers less subject to shrinkage, with a layerof said last-mentioned fibers on the upper pile surface.

8. A pile fabric of Axminster weave having high and low tufts providinga carved or embossed effect, said high tufts being composed of wool, andsaid low tufts being a composite of wool fibers and fibers of acopolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate, each composite tufthaving a base portion of said copolymer and compressed wool fibers witha distinct plating of wool fibers on the upper surface thereof.

9. A pile fabric having high and low tufts providing a carved orembossed effect, said high tufts being composed of fibers having theproperty of little or no shrinkage under heat treatment, and said lowtufts being a composite of fibers of a copolymer of vinyl chloride andvinyl 7 acetate and of other fibers relatively less shrinkable underheat treatment, each composite tuft having a base portion of saidcopolymer and less shrinkable fibers with a distinct plating of lessshrinkable fibers on the upper surface thereof.

10. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricwhich comprises forming the fabric with tufts thereon of the sameheight, some of said tufts being formed of a blended composite yarncomprising wool fibers and vinyl resin fibers having a large potentialshrinkage, and heating the tufts at a temperature and for a time such asto shrink the vinyl resin yarn and thus produce tufts of reduced heighthaving a plating of wool supported by a base portion of said vinyl resinfibers and wool fibers.

11. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricwhich comprises forming the fabric with tufts thereon of the sameheight, some of said tufts being formed of a composite yarn containingfibers relatively unshrinkable by heat and thermoplastic fibers having alarge potential shrinkage when heated, other of said tufts being formedof yarn comprising fibers relatively unshrinkable by heat, and heatingthe tufts at a temperature and for a time such as to differentiallyshrink the thermoplastic fibers and thus produce thickened tufts ofreduced height having exposed projecting lengths of said relativelyunshrinkable fibers supported by a base portion of said thermoplasticfibers and fibers relatively unshrinkable by heat.

12. A pile fabric having high and low tufts providing a carved orembossed elfect, said high tufts comprising essentially fibers havingthe property of little or no shrinkage under heat treatment, and saidlow tufts being a composite of heat shrunk thermoplastic fibers andother fibers having the property of little or no shrinkage under heattreatment, each composite tuft having a base portion of saidthermoplastic fibers and said other fibers with exposed projectinglengths of said other fibers at the upper end of the tuft.

13. A process of producing pattern effects in a pile fabric, whichcomprises forming the fabric with tufts thereon, some of said tuftsbeing of composite yarn containing fibers relatively unshrinkable byheat and thermoplastic fibers having a large potential shrinkage whenheated and other of said tufts being formed of yarn relativelyunshrinkable by heat, and heating the tufts at a temperature and for atime such as to differentially shrink the thermoplastic fibers and thusproduce tufts of reduced height having exposed projecting lengths ofsaid relatively unshrinkable fibers supported by a base of saidthermoplastic fibers and fibers relatively unshrinkable by heat.

14. A process of producing pattern effects in a pile fabric, whichcomprises forming the fabric with tufts thereon, some of said tuftsbeing of a blended composite yarn comprising wool fibers and vinyl resinfibers having a large potential heat shrinkage and other of said tuftsbeing composed of wool fibers, and heating the tufts at a temperatureand for a time to differentially shrink the vinyl resin fibers and thusproduce composite tufts of reduced height having exposed projectinglengths of wool fibers supported by a base of wool fibers and vinylresin fibers.

15. A process of producing carved or embossed effects in a pile fabricwhich comprises forming the fabric with tufts thereon of the sameheight, some of said tufts com- 7 prising composite yarn of blended woolfibers and vinyl resin fibers having a large potential heat shrinkageand other of said tufts comprising yarn of wool fibers and having smallor no potential heat shrinkage, and heating the tufts at a temperatureand for a time such as to shrink the vinyl resin yarn and thus producetufts of reduced height having exposed projecting lengths of wool attheir upper ends.

16. A pile fabric having high and low tufts providing a carved orembossed effect, said high tufts comprising yarn of wool fibers, andsaid low tufts each comprising a composite base portion of Wool fiber sand heat shrunk vinyl resin fibers with exposed projectmg lengths ofwool fibers at the upper end of the base portion.

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